Your source for Arkansas Razorbacks news and opinion

Coaches

If you were/are one of the people who hated Houston Nutt, this is vindication Saturday.

The Razorbacks face Ole Miss this weekend, and it will be the hardest ticket to get in Fayetteville since Texas came to town in 2004 to hand the Hogs a two-point loss, which is appropriate since Ole Miss will now assume the mantle as Arkansas’ chief rival and the game that the fans circle on the calendar. “Ole Miss Week” can’t be far behind if the coming circus even comes close to living up to its billing.

So it starts. On the always entertaining “Fifth Quarter” call-in show on 103.7 on Saturday after the Razorback embarrassment to Alabama, the hosts brought up the topic of play calling. If you have nothing else to talk about after getting beat 49-14, then why not question the coach’s play calling? It is something Arkansas sports fans are very good at. But play calling was not the only problem on the field, by far.

Like a lot of places on the field, the Arkansas Razorback football team is depleted at linebacker. If you have read anything about the preseason so far, you know that fact. I got worse over the last week with Elston Forte and Ryan Powers both nursing injuries. Freshmen will have to fill part of the void at this position, but we all know that won’t work unless one of them is Hardy Nickerson.

The good news, however, is that linebackers are not as important as they once were unless you’re playing Houston Nutt. In this pass-happy world of score, cornerbacks and safeties now have become equally as important. The Razorback coaches, and I don’t know who half of these people are, have been rather reserved talking about how they’re going to fill this void at linebacker, and for good reason ? they have no idea.

Brandon Lampkin, a reserve defensive tackle, was taken to a hospital by ambulance after a neck injury during Friday’s practice, the first with pads this season. He was released Friday night and is in good condition. His Football status is unknown at this time. QB Ryan Mallett is profiled by the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. SI has the Hogs ranked 69th out of 119 FBS schools (via Expats). The Hogs are lumped in with “The Dregs” in an AOL Fanhouse preview. AOL Fanhouse also recaps the 07 SEC season and called Houston Nutt the biggest fraud. Auburn and Arkansas are joining the Spread revolution in the SEC. I didn’t link to this earlier this week but here’s the razorblogger wrapup of Media Day.

Veronica Campbell-Brown became the first Razorback in history to be chose to carry their country’s flag at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games (She carried Jamaica’s Flag). Former Hog Mitch Mustain got a break when USC starting QB Mark Sanchez injured his kneecap and will probably miss the season opener at Virginia. Mustain will compete for the starting spot against Aaron Corp for the start.

Finally, two fun links for you. I stumbled across this site that has some great Razorback desktop wallpapers…Razorhack.org (for the wallpaper use this link). Most of you have probably see this already but, “Can you pass the Darren McFadden Test?” after the jump…